Maximum number of pending right to information applications in Pune with PMC
9,000 RTI applications are lying unaddressed by the civic body
Among all government departments in city, the Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) has the maximum number of applications pending under the right to information (RTI) Act, 2005; state information commissioner’s office has said on Monday.
According to the information commissionerate, the Pune Municipal Corporation tops the list of unanswered queries of RTI by government departments which stand at 9,000 applications.
Meanwhile, under the act, it is mandatory for any government agency to provide information sought through an RTI in 30 days.
While declining to give the precise number of applications pending with the PMC, Anuradha Khanvilkar, deputy secretary, RTI commission, Pune, said, “While PMC tops the list of pending RTI applications; it is followed by the district collectorates and then comes Pune police department. Also, often it is not out of choice that the information is not revealed in the given time frame.”
According to her, the delay is also because the information sought is very elaborate, which cannot be provided in the given time frame.
“In respect to cases where the information is not given within the stipulated time frame, it is the duty of right to information commission to hear the case and take appropriate actions,” she said.
“So about 400 cases per month are heard by the commission, and in maximum number of cases, the delay is caused by respective government agency in giving out the information asked in the RTI,” Khanvilkar further added.
According to Khanvilkar, all the cases till 2016 (5,891 cases) have been heard where a judgement for 4,477 cases have been pronounced and a total amount of Rs 9.09 lakh fine has been imposed on the different government agencies such as; zilla parishads, PMC, Pune district collectors office and Pune police department.
According to officials, so far a total of 3,834 cases have been registered under the RTI Pune commission in 2018 out of which hearing for 2,904 cases have already started.
Despite repeated attempts Saurabh Rao, PMC Commissioner and other officials did not respond.